Early last summer, a man posted a flyer on a bulletin board in Kaktovik, Alaska. It sought someone to conduct elections. No one volunteered. The tiny Alaska Native village’s polling station didn’t open for the August primary. The shuttered poll is the latest example of voting challenges in Alaska’s remote Native settlements.
Kaktovik’s 189 voters simply couldn’t cast their ballots in the August primary. Now with the presidential election next week, some Alaskans may not have the ability to vote. That condition is called disenfranchisement.
August polling sites also remained closed in Wales. That community is in far western Alaska along the Bering Strait. Polls opened late in several other villages. In Anaktuvuk Pass, the polling place wasn’t accessible until about 30 minutes before closing time. Just seven of 258 registered voters there cast ballots in person.
Like other Indigenous populations across the United States, Alaska Native voters for years faced language barriers at the polls. In 2020, the state failed to send absentee ballots to the southwest Alaska village of Mertarvik because its staff didn’t realize anyone was living there.
In 2022, precinct locations in two southwest Alaska villages did not open. Ballots from several other communities arrived too late to be fully counted.
“When these things happen in rural Alaska, when it’s out of sight and out of mind, it seems like the system just shrugs,” says Michelle Sparck. She is with the nonprofit Get Out The Native Vote. “And we’re here saying this is unacceptable.”
Alaska allows absentee voting. But that can present its own challenges. Mail delivery in rural Alaska is often delayed. Kaktovik is 670 miles north of Anchorage. The temperature can dip to -20° Fahrenheit during the winter. Air travel provides the only year-round access to Kaktovik. Ocean-going barges deliver goods in the warmer months.
Despite the difficulties, residents want to use their right to vote. They wish to choose representatives and weigh in on matters such as oil drilling.
State, regional, and local officials all say they are trying to ensure everyone can vote in the November 5 election. Carol Beecher, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, wrote that her agency is “highly invested in ensuring that all precincts have workers and that sites open on time.” But she acknowledges finding workers can be difficult.
Taylor Thompson heads the legal department for North Slope Borough. She says a borough official reached out to the state elections division before the August primary to find out whether Kaktovik was expecting problems. The official even offered to fly someone to Kaktovik if needed.
“The state just didn’t take us up on it,” Thompson says. She says she “lost it” when she learned that Kaktovik’s precinct hadn’t opened.
This time, the borough is sending a worker to Kaktovik to ensure the precinct opens for the general election. Thompson says, “We’re going to make sure that someone is there, no matter what.”
